bloodsbane:

chinesebootlegdad:

lumnch:

snout:

i think injecting homophobia into fiction for the sake of “realism” is overrated like how about just making everybody happy and supported by the people around them, like who cares. why’s that always gotta be like a mandatory central conflict in gay characters lives, just let them be happy instead of beaten down emotionally and/or physically… there need to be more happy lgbt characters especially gay women. just make them happy!!! What the fuck

This is the best post I’ve seen all day

personally, i disagree with this post. it is well known and pretty obvious that characters with more complex, troubled and challenged lives make for deeper connections between reader and character. the viewer would feel more attached to a gay character who experienced being beaten up for homophobia. that doesnt mean they cant be happy in the present.

this is character development 101

well, you say that as if gay characters aren’t able to still be complex, troubled, or challenged in ways that don’t revolve around them being discriminated against, which is sort of the problem. if you create a fictional setting where discrimination against people for their sexual/gender identity persists, you do a disservice to have that be their main or only source of conflict and character development. that plays along to the trope and reduces the character to the one trait. 

and if you decide you don’t want to do that, if you want gay characters but you understand that having their development be centered around them fighting against discrimination isn’t great, then you might as well just not have it exist in that universe! 

there’s also an issue with arguing against the idea presented in this post by saying that viewers will inherently feel more attached to a character who suffers in that way. first of all, it’ll only work if the character actually has a positive character arc/happy ending/is or becomes a good person/likable character. 

the other problem is that, well, we ALREADY have tons of characters with this arc. that’s the point. it’s not fresh or new, and it’s hard to be engaged in a character even if they’re the same identity as you if you’ve seen that character arc and those same problems in every other piece of media. 

not to mention most of the time, characters who have discrimination and harassment for being gay as the focal point of their character and development more often than not don’t get a happy ending. bury your gays is a distressingly persistent trope that’s hard to get away from if you’re consuming mostly mainstream stories. and the places you won’t have to worry about that - stories by gay authors and artists… probably aren’t interested in having that be an aspect of their work anyway. because, again, we’ve already seen it. we’re tired of it. we want our characters to be more than that.